Bowne Housee :D

East West                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Andrew Tai
Community                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             10.1.09

Idea: Famous People
    On the day of September 30th, we went to visit the Bowne House and it was a great experience for

everyone and especially it was a great experience for me definitely. I learned many new things about the

Bowne House that I never learned about before. The Bowne House is something really historic and has

been there for many years. We the students and other people are learning about this and trying to rebuild the

Bowne House back to the way it originally was so people can come and visit this wonderful home and to

help them understand the history that happened here. When we went to the Bowne House there were many

famous people there, even including John Lui. John Lui came in late, but he still gave his speech. These

famous people that were there gave their own personal speeches and it was amazing. What they said really

touched me and made me realize what history has became to be right now. One of the lady said that they

wanted to rebuild the Bowne House and how it really meant something to the people who lived there, which

was John Bowne and how they want to remember him for what he did and it also makes us discover our

nature that we live in. John Bowne was a guy who lived in the Bowne House and all he wanted was people

to have their own religious freedom. Due to him wanting his own religious freedom, this guy named Peter

Stuyvesant did not want that to happen. Unfortunately John Bowne was arrested where we were standing

yesterday and sent to prison somewhere in Manhattan. I found that really exciting and cool to know that we

are standing on one of the most important places and one of the oldest landmarks as well. So John Bowne

had a change to escape jail when they opened the door for him, but he decided not to escape. Later on he

was exciled to Holland and there he won his case of having religious freedom. I found that very interesting

because he stood up for himself in what he thought was right for the people. Due to John Bowne and his

bravery to fight against religious freedom, this is why we have religious freedom today. When John Lui came

up and spoke it was an extrodinary thing because he has just been nominated to become comptroller of the

city. He said how he was growing up nearby the Bowne House when he was little and he use to visit the

Bowne House and he has memories of how it looked like before. He was happy to see that we were there,

kids like when once he use to be visiting this home and helping to restore it back to the proper way. He love

seeing that we were there and being a part in this huge project in helping to rebuild the Bowne House. I am

happy that these important people spoke out to us and they told us how much the Bowne House meant to

them and everything and I just want to learn more and be more in a part in remaking this historic house back

to the way it use to be.